You do not love music, to have fun with the action-adventure Beatbuddy. But it helps immensely to survive.There is a story here, but it's about as much impact on the product as a whole has worked as an average album cover. You are Beatbuddy (Beat, short), one of a trinity of gods of music style, and your fellow musical harmony spirit you have to rescue your sister Melody from the clutches of the villainous Prince Maestro. Maestro wants the world to dance to its beat alone, and this is obviously a bad thing, because the poor guy did not even have the chops on a one-hit wonder.

The beautifully hand painted worlds are full of lovely details and funny ideas. During the five to six hours of play I was always curious about what to expect around the next corner and were surprised again and again. First and just with the equally abrupt as unspectacular final is Beatbuddy from the idea of breath.

From playful core outwards Beatbuddy is really just a thoroughly conventional action-adventure. We explore the floating caverns of the six worlds, from the mine to the jungle to the temple, avoid obstacles and traps, solve a lot of switches and physics puzzles and beat with our blue fists every now and again parasite-like opponents.

The great art of Beatbuddy is that the song while the focus at all, unlike pure music games like Guitar Hero or Audiosurf but never in the foreground. We do not play the music, but with the music. A smaller, but just as fine as fascinating difference. The music is unquestionably the highlight here, and even in Beatbuddy's weakest moments, you might have a hard time refraining from tapping your feet or bobbing your head to the rhythm.

Score: 82 / 100

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Sorry for my bad english.Thanks for reading! If you Like my Review, give me a Thumbs up in Steam.Your help is greatly appreciated :)

A good break from the holiday deluge with an indie title from time to time reminds me that small teams can put out some surprising gems in the flooded console and PC market. I'm talking about those titles that fill up the lower end of the Steam Sales, and they show up as coupons that you get but you wonder what the game is, and whether or not you should commit to it despite the lower cost of entry. Beatbuddy is one such example of those games. It's not perfect, and could use a little more polish, but it's a solid idea for a first outing by the team at Threaks.

Beatbuddy stars it's titular character who has awoken from slumber and must save his friends from the nefarious prince of Symphonia. It's not a terribly deep story, but it does give you the sense of purpose necessary to proceed through the game. It's a bit of a short adventure, clocking it at just under six hours to get through your first time. Whether you'll go back or not depends on the amount of collectibles you found during your experience and how much you care to see the inner workings of Beatbuddy's development. The extras that are unlocked are a lot of storyboards telling about how Beatbuddy came in to being, and how Threaks has spent the past four years trying to get this game off the ground. Let it be known that game development is never an easy task.

The biggest star of Beatbuddy though is its excellent soundtrack that contains some choice tunes from Austin Wintory, Europa Deep, Parov Stelar, Sabrepulse, Curtis Newton, and La Rochelle Band. Each stage features a song by these artists and serves as the backbone to the experience of Beatbuddy, and it's interesting to see how the guys at Threaks managed to break down elements of each song and make them part of the gameplay. The only negative here is that the stages tend to be thirty to forty minutes long, and while the tracks themselves are good and are broken up really well, there is still that same sense of music droning on, and if you happen to get stuck during a particular puzzle, it starts to get a little grating.

At its core, Beatbuddy is a puzzle-adventure game with musical elements that make timing on some puzzles a much bigger factor than you'd normally expect. The rather gentle tutorial stage gets you in the swing of things, showing you how each stage's musical elements come in to play. Like snare crabs that when knocked out cause the surrounding slugs to retract, opening a path forward. But the hook here is how the creatures and puzzle elements all move in time with the music, and knocking out the crabs will cut that part of the musical track out, but you'll be given audio cues along with visual ones to let you know that they're about to come back and potentially impede your progress once again. Once the tutorial is complete, more puzzle elements come in to play that require you to deftly maneuver Beatbuddy through some tight situations and eventually some light combat comes in to play. It never gets to the point of being overly challenging, although there are a few times where some of the ricochet puzzles seem to be a bit too clever for their own good and require a little too much precision from the player, making them seem overly difficult.

This game also has a fair share of bugs that can wipe out the progress you've made on a particular level. I ran in to one instance where I died against some enemies and when I respawned and defeated them, the puzzle elements that they blocked did not become available. And since this was tied to the auto-save, I had to restart the entire level. This wouldn't be a problem if the levels weren't so long. These aren't rampant bugs, but it pays to be very careful when playing through, and thankfully Threaks has been issuing updates to address some of these, so it's quite possible that this may be resolved by the time you're reading this review.

This game is certainly pleasant to look at, thanks to its wonderfully colorful aesthetic. The animation of Beatbuddy and his friends is also rather impressive, even though they don't move around a whole lot, their idle animations show a lot of love went into making each of them feel unique. And hearing their speaking as beatboxing to the music is also a clever addition. The hand-drawn backgrounds have an element of Rayman to them, though they can get a little repetitive if you stop and stare for too long.

I don't really talk about controls much, but I have to say, play this game with a gamepad, or even a keyboard, because the mouse controls make a lot of the timing puzzles difficult to deal with. I spent a majority of my time playing with a mouse, and found it to be a bit detrimental to the experience, especially after I switched to a gamepad. The keyboard option is there as well, though the devs don't recommend using it.

The music is a big draw for the game, and while the levels could have benefited from a bit of fat trimming, they complement the music nicely. For a first effort, the guys at Threaks have certainly gotten off on the right foot. Hopefully they'll have more titles in the future that combine their excellent audio work with their well-crafted visuals.

Beatbuddy pairs great music and wonderful art with poor execution. I have encountered multiple bugs (Mac version) while playing and the controls can sometimes be a bit frustrating. The difficulty level swings abruptly between way too easy and maddeningly difficult pretty regularly, and it can sometimes be hard to tell if it's the software bugs or level design that causes it.

I want to like this game so much, awesome concept, fun music, but the gameplay just sucks. The levels go on for too long, making me sick of the song by the end of each level. The controls/level design feel sloppy/sluggish, there's no way to avoid bumping into stuff all the time, slowing down your progress and ruining the mood. The game also can't decide whether to focus on puzzles or platforming, neither of which are designed all that well. I could be asking too much, just finishing playing Rayman Origins, but this game just isn't well polished.

"Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians" is a sweet music and beat based game.

The level of adorableness of this game is too damn high. So let's take it from the top.

The environment is underwater. The beautifully made areas are hand painted, and filled with rock formations, plants, and cute sea creatures. It is all very pleasing to the eye, and generally forces me to smile throughout the whole experience. Also, the environment is not motionless, it is all vibrant, pulsating, bouncing, and swinging to the soundtrack.

The main character is called Beat Buddy. It's a small, blue, bubbly creature with big eyes, and... earphones. Whenever you stop to figure out a puzzle, he floats in the water bouncing his head and swinging his arm, like a real DJ. Did I mention it is adorable?

The game is basically an action-adventure with loads of puzzles, all focused around the music playing in the background. Each obstacle, element, creature has it's own unique sound which always incorporates nicely with the music, creating a beautiful, energetic soundtrack. From jazzy oldschool sounds, through clubby electronic, and even funky-rocky sounds.

While you can solve any puzzle and go through any obstacle without even turning the sound on, listetning to the soundtrack gives you an advantage. The beat, the sounds actually give you small tips and clues, when and how you should move to go through a challenge effortlessly.

The puzzles slowly progress from absolutely obvious to very complicated. It requires logical thinking, timing, and a good ear.

For me, the game is very relaxing. As I traverse the underwater environment, searching for my friends, hoping to save them.. as I bounce, float, punch my way through complicated labyrinths, I feel myself unwind. The music, the soft but vibrant colours, the sweet personality and feel of the game have a wonderful, positive impact on my mood.

So if you would like something gentle, soothing, and adorable. Something that will make you smile, but will still challenge your gaming skills, try "Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians". And don't forget to wear good headphones or turn your speakers up.

This is what happened when you mix beat into casual adventure video game.You came out with this rocking game.

Man, my head keep bobbing while listening to the beat. I have become a real life Bobbleheads.Truthfully, the game did bore me because yeah it's only a casual game but I did enjoy it.Oh yeah, I really like the arts and extra too (Love seeing how the dev make this game from scratch).

It's really pretty and the music is cool but the last two chapters are really tedious and full of glitches, like getting stuck behind an escort mission and dying because there are gaps where there shouldn't be, and having to restart the entire mission because Beatbuddy won't move and just does his idle dance taunting you.

Despite a few bugs this game is really enjoyable and a lot of fun. Your enjoyment will hinge on whether or not you enjoy the soundtrack though. If you don't like this type of electronica, then I say the game won't be half as fun, though it can still grab your attention with its great graphics. As a rather casual dexterity puzzler, this one fits the bill nicely.

Suprisingly solid game, with just a few problems that bring it down. First off, the main character and his friend are awesome. Little things like leaving him to stand still prompt him to choose one of multiple dance moves that align to the beat, are a nice touch. There is some awesome music and having gameplay and mechanics align with the music and beat are a new and inventive touch. Some of the middle levels lose the quality music and just seem like opera music that doesn't really fit the level and the gameplay doesn't rely as much on it which is disappointing. Also multiple different beats and songs per level would have been better than just one. Problems are a lack of difference as levels, as each one looks and feels the exact same. Another problem is the game uses the same few puzzle, enemies, and game mechanics for the entire game, leading to way too much repeition. There are also numerous reported bugs, some of which you must restart the entire level over again for, such as I had to, which can lead to 20-30 minutes of lost time. Seeing as how the game has been out a while not as many bugs should persist as you see reported on the message boards. The ending is anticlimactic. More of the game should have been spent platforming/fighting enemies etc as opposed to just breaking barriers which bouncers and moving gateway triggers. The levels are big and have multiple branching paths which can be confusing because you have to spend way too much time solving similar puzzles. Some levels such as running from something, or guiding the way for someone, break up the monotony, but are too few and far between. I would there would have been more of those different type of levels. Each level boils down to using the ship and the guy, each of which feels like the last time you used them. Still a fun game and inventive way to incorporate music into it all. Also there is the cuteness factor. 7.5/10

Way too many bugs. Sometimes its a matter of just leaving the game and returning. Other times you had to restart the entire level. Finally got to the point where the annoyance level exceeded the fun level. Otherwise its not a bad game. If they ever fix all the bugs I might return to it.

(Linux Version reviewed)For a game that advertises a great musical experience, it sure is devoid of music. “Beat Buddy” is actually an action-puzzle game, with a heavier emphasis on puzzles (and drums) than I was expecting.

The production values are great, with slick, captivating graphics and smooth controls. But after an hour and a half of playing, I didn’t get to hear one song in the heavily-promoted soundtrack. All you’ll hear are drums and cymbals, with an occasional snippet of sampled music. Basically, you’re listening to a drum machine for hours on end, which I found so irritating that it killed the game for me.

It’s a shame that the “drum machine” aspect ruins the game, because it’s otherwise a decent-enough game.

This is a mostly good game. I read some of the reviews while playing it, and for a while I disagreed. I have a lower end computer, and for most of the game the fps was fine, which worked for me. I loved the music, and at first worried that I would get sick of hearing the same song for upwards of 45 minutes or so, but it was always just fine, seeing as how it would always play differently depending where in the level you are. The songs are fantastic, no doubt about that. The problems with the game are all in the final level. Many of the puzzling elements are quite forgiving, and moving around each level is relaxing a majority of the time. Not so for the final level. It was buggy (I ran into three bugs within a half-hour), ridiculously hard (most puzzles in the game I cleared on the first or second try, for the final level the last puzzle took me twenty minutes alone), and the game wraps up in a cliched ridden and unsatisfying way. It could have been so much better, had it been anything like the previous levels. The worst part is, it leaves you on a sour note. The last level makes me bring the game from a 9/10 to a 6.5/10. I still suggest you play the game. Just set your BS tolerance on high for the final level.